Margaret Werner-Washburne Elected to Rank of AAAS Fellow

University of New Mexico ProfessorMaggie Werner-Washburne recently was elected to the rank of AAAS Fellow. The American Association for the Advancement of Science is the world's largest general scientific society. Election as a Fellow is an honor bestowed upon AAAS members by their peers.

This year, AAAS has awarded 376 members this honor because of their distinguished efforts to advance science or its applications. New Fellows will be presented with an official certificate and a gold and blue (representing science and engineering, respectively) rosette pin on at the Fellows Forum during the 2006 AAAS annual meeting in St. Louis, Mo. in February.

Dr. Werner-Washburne has been at UNM's Department of Biology since 1988. She was elected a Fellow in the biological sciences section for research on the biochemistry, molecular biology and genomics of quiescent state in baker's yeast, and for efforts to increase the representation of underrepresented minorities in the sciences.

Dr. Werner-Washburne has earned numerous awards during her career, including the prestigious Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Math and Engineering Mentoring awarded in 2004.

“This award was a complete surprise,” said Dr. Werner-Washburne. “It is such an honor to be recognized by ones peers for work that has been so rewarding in itself. I have been lucky to have great colleagues and students here at UNM, Sandia and elsewhere, and I am happy for whatever honor this brings to New Mexico.”

Founded in 1848, AAAS includes some 262 affiliated societies and academies of science, serving 10 million individuals. The organization also publishes, Science magazine, which has the largest paid circulation of any peer-reviewed general science journal in the world with an estimated total readership of one million. The tradition of AAAS Fellows began in 1874.

This article is an edited version of UNM's News Release of November 3, 2005, written by Steve Carr (505/277-1821, scarr@unm.edu).